The Compass That Guides Us
by silverliningineachcloud
Summary: When five-year-old 0-8-4 Mary Sue Poots is kidnapped from her foster home, S.H.E.I.L.D decides to place her under the protection of two agents posing as new foster parents upon her recovery. Coulson and May happen to be those two agents, and quickly find their hands full and hearts surprisingly taken by five-year-old Skye. Lots of family adventure, fluff, and angst.
1. One-Sided Introductions

_**Hello! I am interested in writing this story, but first wanted to see if anyone thought the premise was any good/interested in reading! So I'm throwing this chapter out there :)**_

_**Basically, this story will include lots of little Skye adventures, fluff, and angst. And Parent Coulson and May :)**_

**_What do you all think?_**

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><p><strong>"Families are the compass that guides us. They are the inspiration to reach great heights, and our comfort when we occasionally falter." -Brad Henry<strong>

* * *

><p>"Are we really doing this?"<p>

Melinda May stood with her arms crossed, blocking Phil Coulson's path to the door of the Bus, which had been reluctantly parked.

"It's our mission," he reminded her, picking up his suitcase and side stepping her slender yet formidable form. "And it's short term."

"I've heard those words attached to too many high investment cases."

"Agreed. But we have our orders."

May picked up her suitcase, generally stoic face twisted in a slight grimace.

"We're trained agents, May! I am finding it hard to believe that you are phased by this mission of all things!" Phil pulled up the truck of the sleek silver car they had been given, loading the suitcases.

"Trust me, Phil. No amount of training can prepare you for children."

* * *

><p>A small brown haired girl sat on a bench. Her large chocolate brown eyes scanned the room. There were a couple stuffed animals and a variety of other toys lying around, but she did not move to play with anything. Instead, she sat perfectly still on the bench, face void of emotion.<p>

The door opened suddenly and the girl jumped, a quick flash of fear crossing her expression.

"Alright, Mary, we're ready to take you to your new home!" A young woman smiled, holding out a hand to the five year old.

Skye ignored the offered hand and carefully got off the bench.

"Did you not like your toys?" the woman looked puzzled, noting everything was exactly where it had been an hour ago.

The girl did not respond.

"Alright sweetie, please follow me. We've found you a new home."

* * *

><p>"So the girl was discovered by the Centipede project, we have no idea how, and was kidnapped from her last foster home and kept captive for over a week before being recovered by a SHEILD team." May flipped the page of the report.<p>

"Poor girl," Phil murmured. "Looks like she was subject to various types of testing but they were able to retrieve her before anything permanent could be done to her."

"And our job is protect her and keep her under the radar for awhile." May finished.

"Do we know what's special about her? All it says is she's an 0-8-4."

The doorbell rang.

"Well, I guess we'll find out," May said dryly.

They walked to the door, opening it to find a young woman holding a pink suitcase. Beside her stood a dark brown haired little girl.

"Hello, you must be Mr. and Mrs. Parker!" the woman said cheerfully. "Mary, these are your new foster parents!"

"Hello Mary," Phil smiled gently. "You can call me Phil, and this is May. We're so excited to have you come stay with us!"

The little girl was silent, chocolate brown eyes staring.

"Why don't you show her around really quick, Phil," the woman suggested, smile tightening.

Coulson nodded, and the girl followed him out of the room.

"Agent Graham," May acknowledged the woman once the girl was out of earshot.

"Agent May, good to see you." Agent Graham sighed. "The girl has not said a word since my team rescued her from Centipede. We do not really even know what happened there."

"Great." May looked even less pleased.

"Fury wants to know what happened. He ideally would like to perform a memory wipe, but apparently we do not perform them on children, something about children's brains being in periods of crucial growth… Anyways. We are trying to keep things as normal as possible for Mary and hope that she can still be integrated back into society again. Keep up your covers at all times with her. And if she brings up what happened, tell her it was a fevered dream from when she got really sick and had to go to the hospital."

"And if she doesn't believe us?"  
>"She's five. She'll believe it." Agent Graham checked her watch. "Shoot, my team needs me back for a debrief. Good luck."<p>

May watched the door close, pink suitcase in her hand, with a dreadful feeling they were getting in way over their heads.

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><p><em><strong>Well? What do you think?<strong>_

_**Leave a review and let me know if you think I should continue! :)**_


	2. Stay

_**Aw guys, I'm flattered by the response!**_

_**The story WILL GO ON!**_

_** Here's a Christmas present from me to you! **__**  
><strong>_

_**I promise things will get a little smoother, it took a bit for me to get settled into the story. **_

**_Don't you all think Phil would lose his heart to a five year old Skye in like 3 minutes? Their relationship starts earlier, but don't worry, May will come around :) _**

**_Also is there like a standard way to refer to Coulson? I've been kinda alternating between Phil and Coulson... Skye will call him Phil to start with._**

**_Also IMPORTANT: If you have a scene idea for this little strange family and want me to write it, leave a review explaining it, and I'll think about including it! Think family fun/angst/situations_**

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Agents of SHEILD_**

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><p>"So do you like your room?" Coulson asked the girl.<p>

She blinked and looked around at the pink room. On one wall were pink flowery letters spelling out _MARY_.

Phil watched in confusion as the girl dragged a chair across the room, got up on it, and took down the letters.

"You don't want your name on the wall?" he asked confusedly.

"My name is Skye."

Coulson almost didn't hear the words, they were uttered so softly and unexpectedly.

The girl's voice was soft and almost melodic.

"Your name is Skye?" he repeated, just to make sure he had heard right. Coulson was pretty sure the file had said "Mary Sue Poots" on it.

Skye nodded.

"Are you sure?" Coulson wasn't really sure how to handle this.

Skye nodded again.

"I don't think that's actually your name."

Skye's face darkened and the tiny little girl began walking out of the room.

_Crap. May was right. There really isn't training on children. Five minutes in and the little girl was already changing her name. What if she did something even worse? Like cry?!_

_What do you do when a five year old tells you she has a different name than her actual name?_

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry Skye. If that's really what you want us to call you…"

Skye looked slightly pleased, but remained mostly stoic.

Coulson quickly excused himself from the room and fled downstairs.

* * *

><p>"She doesn't talk," Coulson hissed to May. "The only time she's spoken up was to change her name!"<p>

"What did she change it to?" May asked evenly.

"Skye," Coulson shook his head in frustration.

"Interesting." May went to the cupboard and took out a glass, filled it with water, and took a drink.

"Alright, let's take this one step at a time," Coulson took a deep breath. "Okay. Dinner. What are we having for dinner? And who's going to cook?"

"Why are you looking at me?" May gave him a withering stare.

"I'll cook then," Coulson said quickly. "Mac n cheese will work. All kids love it."

He quickly check the kitchen cupboards, rapidly discovering there really wasn't much in the way of food.  
>He did find a hidden gun though.<p>

"Did you hide this?" he held it up.

May took a long drink of water from her glass.

"Yes."  
>"Don't you think this is a little risky? What if she found it?"<br>"She's five. There's no what she can reach up there."  
>May had a point and so Phil carefully put the gun back.<p>

Just as he put it down, Skye walked in, brown eyes wide and examining every inch of space.

"Alright Skye. Looks like we're going to have to go shopping for dinner," Coulson told her cheerfully. "Does that sound ok?"

The five year old was silent.

May and Coulson exchanged a look. This was going to be a long couple weeks.

* * *

><p>The silence continued for exactly two hours and twelve minutes, which was when May put a white ceramic plate with three slices of apple lined up in front of Skye.<p>

The girl had eaten a plate and a half of mac n cheese and drunken two glasses of milk. She seem to be happy, rolling her plastic cup between her tiny hands.

And then May put down the plate of apple slices.

The reaction was immediate.

Skye's entire body tensed up. "No, no no!" she shook her head, brown hair dancing around her face.

"Skye?" Phil tried to touch her shoulder but she jerked at his touch. And began crying. "I don't want it, I don't want it, I don't want it," she sobbed, curling up in her chair.

During most of this, May had been staring in slightly shocked silence, but she suddenly leapt forward and took the plate of apples away, dumping them in the trash.

"Skye, Skye, sweetie, you don't have to have them okay? We're not going to make you have them. See, May took them away. Skye, please look up, it's okay," Phil was frantically trying to console the tiny little girl curled up on the chair.

Skye's sobs finally slowed to hiccups and she eventually sat back up, eyes puffy and face tear streaked.

"There you go, everything's okay." Coulson smiled. He looked up to see May lurking in the doorway, troubled expression on her normally stoic face.

"Can… can I have more mac n cheese?" Skye hiccupped.

"Of course."

Phil watched as Skye began eating again, her body trembling slightly.

"Can you tell me what happened? What was wrong?"

Skye just shook her head and kept eating.

* * *

><p>"Did she talk to you?" Coulson asked May, letting his head fall into his hands.<p>

Through unspoken arrangement, May had helped Skye put on her pjs, brush her teeth, and get into bed.

The two agents regrouped at the couch, both exhausted.

"No." May crossed her arms but leaned back against the plush fabric.

"Any idea what happened at dinner?"

"I think it was the apples," May stated.

"The apples?" Coulson raised his eyebrows.

"Well, I don't know. Do you have any better theories?" May said testily.

"I wish I did," Coulson sighed. "I have no idea what we're doing."

May's dark eyes were unreadable.

"Being parents," she said.

At that moment a scream shattered the air.

"I've got you covered!" May yelled, pulling out her gun out of seemingly nowhere as Coulson sprinted up the stairs.

"Skye!" he shouted, bursting into the pink room.

Skye was curled up in a tiny ball in her bed, under the pink covers, sobbing and shaking.

"Clear." May quickly checked the room, gun ready.

"I think she's having a nightmare…" Phil holstered his own gun.

He and May hesitated, looking at the crying girl in the bed.

"I'll just double check the grounds."

May disappeared.

"Thanks May," Coulson muttered under his breath before turning to the girl. "Skye?" Phil gently shook the small girl, surprised at how tiny her little form was.

Slowly the brown eyes blinked open, full of confusion.

Skye sat up and looked around, breathing slowing to a more normal rate.

For about the millionth time that day, Coulson thought briefly about how he had absolutely no idea what he was doing. Quickly he tried to think back, all those years ago, to what his parents would do when he had nightmares.

Well. He would give this a try and hope it didn't make things worse.

"Did you have a nightmare?" Coulson asked, carefully sitting on the bed.

Slowly Skye nodded.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

She shook her head.

"Are you sure? It might help."

Another shake of the head.

"Alright then. Do you think you can go back to sleep?"

"Okay," Skye whispered. She laid back down, snuggling under the curtains. Coulson got up to leave.

"Wait!"

He turned to see Skye sitting back up.

"What's wrong?" he quickly walked back.

"Stay?" Skye's brown eyes were huge in her wan face.

Surprised by the request, Coulson quickly pulled up a chair next to the bed and sat down.

"Of course."

He felt strangely touched when she reached for his hand and held it tightly until she fell asleep.

* * *

><p><em><strong>What do you think?<strong>_

_**Please review! :)**_

_**All I want for Christmas is reviewssssssss**_


	3. An Outing to Remember

_**Anddddd here's another chapter for you all!**_

_**Also happy holidays! :)**_

_**Huge thanks to those who reviewed! You all are the best!**_

_**Smileychameleon: I will definitely put in your suggestion! I wanted to lay some groundwork in this chapter, but it will come!  
>Just a warning, I like Frozen. It will play a role. If you hate it, it's not a big deal, you can still enjoy this :)<strong>_

**_Let me know what you think!_**

**_or just review cause it's my favorite thing ever to get reviews._**

_**Disclaimer: I do not own anything.**_

* * *

><p>Skye woke up, pink covers twisted around herself, soft light filtering through the white curtains over the window.<p>

Slowly she sat up. She was in the new house still.

She remembered waking up two or three times in the night, making the man and silent lady come running.

She remembered the nice man, Phil, staying by her bed each time, and the silent lady, May, peering in through the doorway, looking concerned.

She remembered the dreams, about that horrible place.

Skye shuddered and got out of bed.

She was scared. She didn't really know what was going on. All she knew was she was now with the nice man and silent lady and they fed her mac and cheese and didn't yell or poke her with needles or do other scary things.

At least, not yet.

Skye paused and examined the stuffed animals on the toy chest by her bed. Hesitantly she reached out to touch one. It was soft. She smiled slightly.

And then she saw the bear. It had a goofy grin but she didn't even see that. All she saw was it was wearing a white long coat.

Images flashed through her mind. A woman with straight brown hair and glasses in a white coat raised a needle. A bright light was shining in her eyes, something was around her wrists, keeping her from moving. She fought and fought, crying, screaming, but nobody came to help her…

"It's okay. You're okay," someone was gently rubbing her back.

Skye suddenly realized she was still in the pink room. The silent Asian lady was crouched beside her, murmuring soft words.

Skye's breath hitched in her chest and she wiped the tears from her face.

When she looked back up, the lady was gone. Soon Phil came running into the room, saying something about how May had told him she was crying and suddenly Skye started crying again because she was scared and confused and she let Phil hug her and when he eventually tried to move, she clung to him as if he was the only thing holding her down on earth.

* * *

><p>"Do five year olds take naps?" Coulson watched Skye's head droop. The girl was currently curled up on the couch, watching a TV show about butterflies and her head kept drooping and eyes fluttering.<p>

Breakfast had been a silent affair. When Skye had finally let go of him, she went back to her usual distant self.

"She's probably tired from all those nightmares."

Coulson grunted in agreement, unable to tear his eyes from the tiny girl on the couch.

What had those bastards done to her?

She had woken up screaming three times during the night, and then there was the morning meltdown May had discovered…

He couldn't shake the memory of her skinny yet strong arms clinging to him as though he was a lifeline.

"I found this on the floor of the bedroom." May glanced at Skye and seeing that she was distracted by the TV, held up a little stuffed animal bear. The bear was wearing a lab coat, obviously supposed to be some cute scientist bear.

Cute unless you were a little girl just rescued from a lab.

"That must have triggered the meltdown this morning," Coulson hissed. "Who the hell thought this would be a good idea?!"

"Some idiot who doesn't have a brain," May said and calmly ripped the bear's head off, stuffed him in the trash, and stalked off.

Coulson watched her go, then turned back to watching Skye.

If only he could get her to talk…

Suddenly he had a great idea.

* * *

><p>"This is a horrible idea," May deadpanned.<p>

They were standing in front of the largest toy store either of the agents had ever seen.

Kids and parents were everywhere. Vibrant colors blasted from all sides and over the top sing songy music filled the air.

There were aisles full of just pink toys. There were balls and wheels and scooters and bikes and stuffed animals and arts and crafts and basically everything imaginable.

May took a cautious step forward and stepped on a toy bird which began screeching and flapping its mechanical wings.

May kicked the toy bird's head off before anyone had a chance to react.

"Skye, give me your hand," Phil ordered.

Skye took his hand, brown eyes wide as she stared at the aisles and aisles of toys.

"Alright. We can do this." Coulson took a deep breath. He was fairly sure May was going to kill him later for dragging her into this hell shop.

"What do you want to look at first, Skye?"

Skye clung to his hand, looking around. Suddenly she smiled and pointed.

"Elsa!"

And all of a sudden, her hand slipped out from his and she ran around the corner, and a pack of children was between him and May and Skye.

"Skye!" May yelled, pushing through the group of seven year olds clutching matching dolls. "Who the hell is Elsa?!"

"No idea! Where'd she go?!" Coulson was sprinting down the aisle he thought Skye had gone down.

He suddenly saw her brown hair by the tea sets and ran to her.

"Skye, you can't…"

The girl turned around and it wasn't Skye.

Phil jerked back and backed away from the child and her mom who was sending him suspicious looks.

"Okay, we lost her." He regrouped with May who was searching the stuffed animal area.

"Shit." May dropped a smiling starfish and reached for her hidden gun.

"May!" Coulson stared at her. "You can't pull out your gun in a Toys R Us!"

A mom next to the play ponies was looking at them concernedly, reaching for her cell phone.

"I mean… I don't think it's appropriate to get Tommy a _toy gun_," Coulson said loudly.

The lady put her cell phone back in her purse.

"We should split up," May hissed. "If someone finds her and Centipede…"

She didn't have to say more, they were both running different ways.

_Oh god. This couldn't be happening. Two days into a mission and they had already lost their charge._

Coulson promptly tripped over a jump rope, skidded into a giant rubber ball, and fell on his back.

Many cheerful snowmen stared down at him, while somewhere something was singing about letting go and ice and snow or something. Coulson sat up and turned to find Skye standing beside him, hugging a blonde doll with a shiny blue dress.

"Look, I found Elsa!" she smiled, holding it up for him to see.

Coulson groaned and grabbed a smiling snowman and buried his face in it.

* * *

><p>"Are you sure you just wanted Elsa?"<p>

It was after dinner, which after their eventful evening was pizza ordered from a local shop.

Skye nodded, cradling her doll.

"Are you sure? We could go back and get one of those other ones, the uh.. uh.. snowman with the funny nose…"

"Olaf," Skye inserted.

"Or the redhead…"  
>"Anna." Skye smoothed her doll's hair.<p>

"Or even that reindeer and that weird guy…"  
>"Sven and Kristoff."<p>

"Yeah, all those guys. We could totally go back and get them for you."

He could see that Skye had no interest, and he had said it really to get to May, but judging by the way she was glaring at him as though she would murder him with the piece of pizza she was holding, he was thinking it was maybe too soon.

Phil gave her an apologetic half smile but she only glared and stalked away.

He turned back to Skye.

"Alright, why Elsa? Why not Annie…

"Anna."

"Or Kristopher…"  
>"Kristoff."<p>

"Whatever. Why not one of them?" Coulson was secretly enjoying how much Skye was talking. As in she had said a couple more than five words in the last hour. All had been about this mysterious movie, Frozen.

Judging from the way she responded to physical objects, such as the apples or bear, he had wondered if he could get her to open up that way as well.

So far, it was working. It was even worth the trip to the toy store.

Skye was silent for a moment, holding her Elsa doll in front of herself making her sway back and forth slightly.

"Elsa's different from everyone else. And she… she gets locked up because of that. They put these things on her hands. Those stop you from getting away." Skye set down the doll and clasped her own wrist with her other hand in demonstration. "They tell her she's a monster. But she's just scared."

Skye, done with her explanation, picked up Elsa again and hugged her tight.

* * *

><p>"They put cuffs on her at some point."<p>

"What?"

It was almost 1 am and when May walked into the living room after disappearing for a perimeter check, Coulson was sitting on the couch, the animated scene of a slender blonde girl pulling against chains in a dungeon paused on the screen of the TV.

"What is this?" May raised her eyebrows.

"Frozen. And that's Elsa." Coulson gestured to the still image on the screen with the remote.

"Coulson, what the hell are you doing?"

"Finding out what happened to Skye in that lab. I got her to talk to me today. She told me this story about Elsa and how they put chains on her and said she was different and a monster, but she was just scared…"  
>"You're making assumptions from a conversation about a child's toy."<p>

"I know she was talking about herself." Coulson stared at the screen, eyes glued to the look of anguish on Elsa's face.

"Phil," May's gaze became concerned. "Maybe you should get some rest."

"I think," Coulson ignored May. "I think they used restraints at some point. I know they found Skye in a small empty room. My guess is they took her from the room to run tests and then brought her back there when they were done. And either they told her or she heard them talking to each other about how she's different or maybe even a monster…"

"We need to find out what kind of tests, Phil. We need to know what they were up to. This doesn't matter…"

"It does if it's affecting Skye," Phil's voice was suddenly intense.

May's eyes narrowed.

"Her mental health is not our mission."

"It might not be our mission, but it is our concern as human beings." Coulson stood up, holding May's gaze seriously.

"We can't get attached," May said roughly.

"I will not become apathetic to a child's suffering," Coulson said quietly and left the room.

* * *

><p><em><strong>What do you think? <strong>_

_**Leave a review and you shall be loved by this author! :)**_


	4. Voices From The Heart

_**Next chapter for you all!**_

_**Have an awesome New Years everyone! Here's a super long chapter for the last chapter of 2014!**_

_**Also, Smileychameleon, I wrote out your scene :) It will be coming!**_

_**Thank you to all my readers and reviewers! I'd love to hear any of your thoughts on the story!**_

_**I do not own Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. That would be Marvel.**_

* * *

><p>"May?"<p>

May jerked away from the punching bag she had set up in the basement.

It was three days after the whole toy store fiasco and Skye was still mostly silent and stoic. They could count the number of times she had smiled on one hand. But She was definitely improving. She seemed more at ease, and had started talking without being spoken to first.

They were starting to see a glimmer of the child Skye might have been.

And now she was standing on the stairs, watching May beat the crap out of a bunching bag.

Skye however looked very unconcerned at what May was doing.

"What's the matter?" May rubbed her knuckles.

"Elsa is sad." Skye held up the doll.

Although she had initially thought Phil was crazy, May had soon realized that he was right; Skye spoke of the emotions she couldn't seem to express through the doll.

"Why is Elsa sad?" May carefully approached the girl.

She was horrible with kids. Where was Phil?

"Because, Phil left to get more milk. But Elsa isn't sad here with you." Skye said seriously.

Shit. Coulson was gone which meant she had to face the hardest task she had encountered alone; childcare.

"Here, you can hold her!" She held up the doll and May took it gingerly. The last toy she had held she had torn the head off of.

Holding the precious doll, May watched Skye wander around the little makeshift gym.

"Pete had one of those," she pointed at the elliptical.

"Who's Pete?" May cautiously trailed behind Skye.

"One of my foster dads." Sky turned to examining the dumbbells, trying to pick one up and quickly giving up.

And suddenly Skye saw the treadmill.

The blood drained from her face and her tiny frame began shaking.

May immediately saw the telltale signs of the beginning of a meltdown.

"Phil!" she yelled. He could always calm the girl down.

Wait. Shit. He had run to the store.

Shit.

She was going to have to do this on her own.

Skye's body was beginning to shut down, her lively chocolate eyes glazing over. May shoved the doll into her arms, picked up the girl and carried her upstairs, away from the treadmill.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. You're alright." She rubbed the little back gently in circles. Finally the shaking and sobbing subsided and May found that Skye was clinging to her, little arms wrapped around her neck.

Slowly, May relaxed. She wrapped her arms around Skye and held her, rocking the little girl slightly back and forth.

* * *

><p>"They made her run a treadmill." May reported to Coulson after Skye had been put to bed.<p>

"I'll make a note of it."

May watched Coulson's jaw clenched as he turned to his computer and began typing. They were compiling a growing list of the tests they were able to figure out had been performed.

Some were told through Elsa. Others were discovered through panic attacks triggered by objects used, such as the treadmill. It was becoming more and more clear that Centipede had been testing physical aspects, such as endurance and strength, of Skye.

"I'm angry too," May said quietly.

Coulson turned sharply to look at her.

"Thank god they didn't physically hurt her more, other than the blood drawing."

Both agents were silent for a moment.

"Do you think they wanted to test a new device on her?"

"Probably. Their last devices caused the human subjects to explode. Her status as an 0-8-4 would mean there was a chance it would work on her."

Silence again.

"We just need to figure out what kind of device it was and then I think we'll be good on information gathering and we can focus on taking care of Skye." Coulson closed the laptop.

Again, silence.

"She must have been so scared, all these things happening, people forcing her to do things she didn't want to, and she didn't understand what was happening…" Coulson stared at the wall in front of him. "For God's sake, she's only five."

"Stop." May's voice was low.

"What?" Coulson turned to look at her.

"Just stop." May turned and stalked out of the room. She went to the basement and started punching the bunching bag but ended stopping and staring at the treadmill, imagining a scene in a white room with Skye crying and just wanting to stop and…

Before she knew what was happening, May had grabbed two dumbbells and brought them down onto the treadmill. She crushed every piece of the treadmill with an anger she did not understand.

* * *

><p>"I think it's time we started some semblance of school," Coulson announced at breakfast. Skye looked up from her oatmeal, chocolate eyes brightening.<p>

"Can Elsa come to school too?" she asked, holding up the doll.

"Of course," Coulson smiled, the edges of his eyes crinkling. "What do you think May? Should we tackle some homeschooling?"

"Absolutely," May nodded. "Skye will start self defense lessons with me this morning."

"What does that mean?" Skye asked innocently.

"Skye, can you go up to your room and get your raincoat?" Phil practically pushed Skye out of the room before turning on May.

"_May, she's five!_" he hissed.

"The earlier, the better," May said calmly, picking up her plate.

"May, we have to discuss this!" Phil banged his hand against the table. "God dammit, May, I don't want her learning how to fight! I want her to play and enjoy what shred of childhood she hasn't had taken from her!"

"Listen, Phil. Centipede is still out there. There are millions of organizations that would _kill_ to get their hands on Skye. For all we know, she isn't even human. They don't care that she's five! Someone out there leaked her identity and location, it could happen again. If she's ever taken again, this is the least we can do."

"You think there's a mole?" Coulson looked steadily at May.

Her dark eyes were full of an unreadable emotion.

"All I'm saying is Centipede somehow found Skye and we haven't found out how yet. Until we can guarantee security on Skye's location and identity, she isn't safe."

"Phil, I got my coat!" Skye ran into the room. "Where are we going?"  
>Coulson and May stared at each other for a moment.<p>

"We need to get you supplies for your self defense lessons. And some books for lessons. And what if we drop by the toy store and pick up an Anna doll as a special treat? Cause we still want you to keep playing and having fun even though we'll be having some school and lessons. How does that sound?"

"Good!" Skye smiled.

Phil caught May's gaze and she nodded.

* * *

><p>"Alright, are you ready?" May turned to look at Skye.<p>

She was dressed in a black shirt that said I MAY LOOK CUTE BUT I'M A NINJA and black tights.

May supposed it was Coulson's idea of a joke and she vowed to not let Coulson shop for Skye's clothes alone ever again.

Not that the little girl would be needing another set anytime soon. And by the time she did, their mission would be over and…

May violently pushed away that thought, not sure why it seemed to cause her so much unease.

All missions came to an end. They were only a stepping-stone in Skye's life; taking care of her while the threat against her was eliminated.

And part of taking care of Skye meant starting to teach her how to take care of herself.

May forced herself to focus and looked again at Skye.

Her brown hair was in a little ponytail that was horribly messy and could only have been done by Coulson.

May was suddenly aware of how _tiny_ Skye was.

She could literally lift the girl up with one hand. She was fragile in so many ways.

Fragile, but surprisingly strong. Stronger than any five year old should have to be.

This was going to have to be a very special lesson.

"Alright, first we're going to start with something called threat assessment…"

* * *

><p>"Did she understand a word you said?" Coulson grinned as May and Skye walked into the kitchen.<p>

May just glared at Phi, but he could tell she wasn't really upset.

"Phil, I learned threat assessment!" Skye chirped.

"Oh good," Phil's blue eyes sparkled.

Skye started to climb onto her chair but slipped. As if in slow motion, Coulson watched Skye fall backward, head on collision course with the corner of the table…

With lightening reflexes, May grabbed Skye and set her on the chair.

"Are you ok?" May checked Skye for injuries with surprising tenderness.

Skye nodded.

"Here, I will get you some water. It is important to stay hydrated."

Skye watched May walk away then turned to Phil.

"What's hydrated mean?"

"It means you drink lots of water," Coulson informed her.

"Oh."

Skye's face darkened.

"Skye, are you okay?" Coulson quickly caught the change in mood and sensed a coming panic attack.

Skye just nodded, not looking at Coulson, instead leaving the table and finding her Elsa doll.

"Want to draw with me?" Phil stood up and grabbed a stack of paper and box of crayons.

Skye shook her head and turned away.

"I think Elsa wants to draw with me." Phil put the paper down on the coffee table. "I'm going to draw her a snowflake."

Skye turned and watched Phil attempt to draw a snowflake.

"You're a bad drawer," she observed.

"Thanks," Phil was amused by her comment.

"But, Elsa likes it," Skye relented, taking the drawing.

"Hmm. What should I draw now?"

"Draw May," Skye suggested.

Coulson blanched at the idea.

"That would be a dangerous game to play for me, especially with my drawing skills. How about you draw her?"

Soon Skye was filling pages with bright crayon lines, utterly focused.

"What's happening in this one?" Phil picked up a drawing of a brown haired girl. The girl looked like she was crying but she also could have been eating blueberries. Coulson wasn't quite sure. "Or this one?"

He spied a drawing that made his blood run cold.

It was a drawing of a brown haired girl lying on a table, grey bands on her wrists and legs. In the margin of the paper, there was a drawing of a needle.

He slowly picked it up.

Skye looked at him with large eyes, full of a pain he couldn't bear to see. Her eyes told him all he needed to know.

The moment had finally come.

Skye was telling him what had happened. What she couldn't manage to say in words, she was drawing for him to see.

He was supposed to tell her it was all just a dream, just like he told her when she really did wake up from nightmares. But this time, she was awake and aware.

"Skye…"  
>He couldn't say the lie. He couldn't tell her all her pain wasn't real, that it was just the result of a fever.<p>

He doubted Skye would believe him anyways. She was smart, and definitely smart enough to know what actually happened and what didn't.

Fury was sure she could be convinced otherwise.

He was sure she could not.

They had to face what happened in order for Skye to heal from it.

So he would not even try the lie. He would not invalidate her pain or break her trust.

Instead he carefully smoothed Skye's soft hair, tucking a strand behind her ear.

"You are safe now, I promise."

* * *

><p>"You didn't tell her the lie we were ordered to tell her."<p>

May joined Coulson on the couch. Skye had just gone to bed and based on the patterns of the past week, they had at least half an hour before the first nightmare.

"No. I didn't."

The light was dim and Phil could not quite see May's face.

"Then I will not either."

Before he could say more, May was gone.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Thoughts? Ideas? Complaints?<em>**

**_Leave a review and let me know :)_**


	5. Skye

_**Hey all! Happy New Year! WHooooo 2015! Let's make it spectacular! :)**_

_**Also, I have decided to write a oneshot for someone! I think I will randomly select one of the followers of this story once I reach 100 followers! It will be a oneshot of the winner's choice, within SHEILD of course!**_

**_I do not own Agents of SHEILD _**

* * *

><p>"Frozen?"<p>

Skye held up the DVD up, puppy dog eyes huge and pleading.

Coulson was sure he was going to go crazy if he heard "Do You Want to Build A Snowman" one more time.

May had disappeared after the first five minutes of the movie the first time they watched it. Ever since, she had been suddenly very busy whenever Skye pulled out the movie. Which was at least three times a day.

Someday Coulson was going to force her to watch the entire animated movie. He would probably be murdered in his sleep soon after, but it would be worth it.

"How about we…" Coulson jumped to distract Skye from the movie when his phone buzzed. He pulled it out, suddenly aware of the way Skye's eyes lit up with interest.

"Do you want to see it?" He offered it to her on a whim, quickly closing everything that was confidential first.

Skye took the phone, turned it over in her hands several times, examining the screen with fascination.

Then her small fingers started to dance across the screen.

Ten minutes later, there were seven Frozen games, three puzzle games, and a zombie apocalypse game installed on his phone, as well as an app that told you where the nearest McDonalds was. Skye had somehow found the portal to the confidential files he had loaded when Coulson finally took the phone back.

Skye's eyes were glowing with happiness and she suddenly turned to Phil's laptop, gazing at it with great interest.

"On second thought, let's watch Frozen." Coulson pulled her onto his lap, and subtly hid all his technology while she was captured by the movie.

That evening they found Skye on May's laptop.

The laptop had been locked.

"How the hell did she do that?" May stared at the five year old doing a floor puzzle after they had taken the laptop back and hidden it.

"I have no idea." They both looked back at the little girl.

"I guess she really is a child of her generation," Coulson said finally.  
>"I guess so."<p>

* * *

><p>The next day when Phil got up, his fuzzy slippers were not beside his bed.<p>

"What the…" He got out of bed and began crawling around on the ground looking for them.

He _loved_ those fuzzy slippers and always kept them beside his bed when he went to sleep. Where could they have gone?

Suddenly he saw a pair of chocolate brown eyes watching him crawl around on the ground in his pajamas.

A tiny hand waved a slipper at him.  
>"Skye?"<p>

There was a look in Skye's face that Coulson could not immediately identify.

And then he realized what it was; mischief.

A smile spread across his face.

Skye had _pranked_ him!

He had never been so happy to be pranked in his entire life.

Skye held up the other slipper, which was in her other hand, mischievous look still on her face, now accompanied by a full out smile.

"Skye, did you take my slippers?"

Skye hid the slippers behind her back and shook her head, still beaming.

"Hmm, I have a feeling they might be…" Coulson took a careful step towards the tiny girl. "….behind your back!" Phil pounced, wrapping Skye in a bear hug.

May appeared just in time to take in the scene.

A sound neither agent had heard tumbled from Skye's lips.

It was the sound of a beautiful melodic laugh.

* * *

><p>"Skye, where are you?" May walked into the kitchen and froze.<p>

Skye was perched on the kitchen counter.

In her small hands was a gun.

"Skye, no!" May leapt forward, yanking the gun from Skye's grasp. "_Do not touch this!_" she shouted, adrenaline coursing through her veins. "You _do not play with this!_"

At this point, Skye was sobbing, tears streaming down her face. May tucked the gun away, surprised to find that she herself was shaking slightly.

_Nothing_ shook her.

But finding Skye holding the weapon, seeing the large black ugly weapon in those tiny innocent hands…suddenly seeing images of all the people she had witnessed with bullet holes in them, dead… imagining Skye in their place… No she wouldn't even go there. She couldn't

"Guns are _dangerous_," May said harshly. "Do you understand?!"

Skye nodded vigorously, sobbing.

May took a step forward to lift Skye down from the counter.

She froze when Skye whimpered and winced at her movement, little hands covering her face protectively.

She had scared Skye.

Skye thought she was going to hurt her.

"Skye, I'm not going to hurt you," May whispered, horrified as she suddenly realized what she had just done.

She had just yelled at Skye. She had lost it, so scared by walking into the kitchen and seeing Skye with that gun… Yet her fear had come out as anger and attacked the five year old who sat sobbing in front of her.

She had to fix this.

"Skye, please look at me," May's voice was impossibly tender. Skye slowly met May's gaze, tears still streaming from her face.

Something in May's heart broke. The little girl had cried far too much in her short little life. The world had been unbelievably cruel to her. And now May had caused the tears, inflicted pain, albeit unintentionally, on a little girl who had already endured far too much.

"I'm sorry I yelled," May slowly reached out and touched Skye's hair, relieved when the girl didn't pull away. "I got scared because guns are very dangerous and I didn't want you to get hurt. I'm sorry I lost my temper and scared you like that. I would never hurt you." She gently stroked Skye's soft hair. "I'm sorry."

Skye relaxed, the tears slowing and then stopping.

"I..I'm sorry I touched the gun," Skye hiccupped. "I won't ever again, I promise."

"Alright," May said. Hesitantly she reached forward to pick up Skye from the counter and was surprised when Skye launched herself into her arms and snuggled close.

"May?"

"Yes?"

"Can you stay and watch Frozen with me now?" Skye asked.

May didn't even hesitate.

"Of course."

She looked up just in time to see Coulson slip away from the door. She was fairly sure he had seen the whole exchange.

She was unexplainably glad that he had allowed her and Skye to work things out without jumping in, giving her the chance to make things right. But she didn't know how she felt about him witnessing the exchange.

But when she passed him in the hall on the way to go watch Frozen, he just smiled and nodded slightly.

* * *

><p><em><strong>D'aawww. <strong>_

_**If you have any ideas for future chapters, tell me! I'll take them into consideration :) **_

_**Please review!**_

_**I want to hear your thoughts!  
>And if you don't want to say anything but are enjoying the story, leave me <strong>_:)_** to let me know!**_


	6. Smile

_**So, here's one more chapter of fluff for ya'll! Sorry this is so incredibly late. This is has been a tough semester so far, but I think things are finally working out. Life has a way of making things crappy sometimes. and awesome other times. and freaking busy most of the time.**_

**_There will still be a one shot raffle for a oneshot among my followers once we hit 100! :) If you get picked (randomly) you can order a oneshot of your choice! :)_**

**_Presenting... Fluffiness! Don't worry, things will happen! There will be intense scenes. But we can enjoy the cuteness for now :)  
>Disclaimer: Don't own it. Do you really think I'd be writing on fanfiction if i did?<em>**

* * *

><p>"I drew you a picture!"<p>

Skye held up a crayon drawing, pushing it in front of Coulson's laptop screen. He jumped slightly. Fury had asked him to do some data analyzing and it had consumed his entire day.

"Skye, I'm working…" Coulson took the paper and moved to place it aside when he glanced at it. It was a drawing of him holding Skye's hand. In the background there was a figure with red eyes watching but it was behind a fence, obviously scared of the sword Phil was holding in his hand.

"Do you like it?" Skye beamed.

"I love it. This is going on the fridge," Coulson smiled, sweeping Skye up onto his lap. She smiled and snuggled closer. But after a moment, she grew contemplative.

"That's why I can't go outside, right?" Skye pointed at the crouched figure in her drawing.

"We want you to be safe." _And in here there are about twenty alarm systems and protective measures._

"I miss playing outside," Skye sighed. "And Elsa likes being outside too."

"We go outside sometimes," Coulson reminded her.

"Like the toy store!" Skye's eyes lit up with excitement.

"Exactly."

They were silent for a moment, Coulson's mind drifting back to his work, when Skye spoke up again.

"I'm hungry."

"Tell May, honey, she can get you something."

"I don't know where she is."

And then Phil remembered that May was at a meeting.

And that he was supposed to go grocery shopping and had completely forgot.

So they had no food except ice cream in the freezer and there was no way Coulson was going to feed that to Skye. Sugar tended to send her into a craze.

"I forgot about dinner," Phil groaned, glancing at the clock, which told him it was 6:17 already.

"I know," Skye informed him solemnly. "Can we go to McDonalds?"

Phil looked at her charming smile and wondered briefly if the situation had been partly orchestrated by Skye. After all, why had she allowed him to work for several hours without interruption and had only finally shaken him out of his work coma when it was past the time they usually ate? He had to remember that Skye was sometimes a little scheming and very smart, although always very sweet.

"Did you purposefully not remind me earlier that we were supposed to go grocery shopping?" Coulson asked suspiciously.

Skye's smile widened.

"No." Her large chocolate eyes blinked innocently.

"Liar." Phil tickled her, causing her to giggle. "Alright, we'll go to McDonalds. But let's keep this a secret from May."  
>"Yay!" Skye cheered, jumping off Phil's lap and running to get Elsa. "Wait, why can't we tell May?"<p>

"Because I don't think she'd be a fan of McDonalds."  
>"But you get a free toy," Skye protested, letting Coulson help her put on her raincoat.<p>

"That is very appealing, but somehow I don't think that would sway her."

* * *

><p>"Chicken nuggets, chicken nuggets, Phil I want chicken nuggets," Skye tugged at Coulson's sleeve.<p>

"How about something that we can actually recognize as meat…" Phil suggested.

"No," Skye shook her head.

"Fine. But what's the deal?"  
>"Don't tell May," Skye recited obediently. "I want a toy."<p>

"Um how do I order that?" Coulson desperately scanned the menu lit up above the ordering counter.

"A Happy meal, silly!" Skye smiled, holding tightly to Phil's hand. He noticed how she tensed slightly whenever anyone walked past them.

"Hmm you seem to know a lot about McDonalds," Coulson commented.

"Jill took me here sometimes after school."

"Who's Jill?"

"Foster mom. Sometimes she was nice. Sometimes she'd yell. Or throw things. But she felt bad afterwards." Skye's face betrayed no emotion at her statement and Coulson was cut off from responding because it was his turn to order.

As they stood and waited for their food, Coulson noticed how Skye was gazing at the play structure inside the restaurant.

"Do you want to play?"

"I'm scared," Skye sighed quietly, holding his hand tightly.

"I'll be right here," he assured her. "You can try it and come back if you don't like it."  
>"What if someone takes me?"<p>

"I'll be right here."

"Okay." Skye's face took on a look of determination. Her hand slipped out of Phil's and he watched with a great amount of pride as she went to the play structure and began climbing around like the monkey she was.

Coulson's smile faded as he sudden became aware of the man standing beside him also intently focused on Skye's little figure.

The man noticed his protective look and grinned.

"She's a pretty little thing." His dark eyes were almost predatory as they flickered back to Skye.

The growing feeling of sickening unease grew in Phil's gut.

"She's my little girl, and I don't want you staring at her." The words slipped out before Coulson even knew what he was saying.

"Ooh Papa bear, huh?"

"Phil!" Skye came running out of the play structure, halting Coulson's response. "Has our food come?"

The man reached out and touched Skye's beautiful dark hair with a large rough hand.

"Hi beautiful, what's your name?" he grinned.

The punch was not exactly intentional. Coulson didn't _mean_ to knock the man out.

It just sort of happened.

"What is the deal?" he asked Skye, rubbing his bruised knuckles as he pulled into the driveway of their house.

"Don't tell May," Skye smiled, finishing her last chicken nugget. She seemed very un-phased by the violence she had seen Phil perform. Because after all she had thought "that wasn't a very nice man, was he?" and Coulson had agreed while practically dragging her out of the fast food place.

"Right."

They walked into the house. May was sitting at the living room table, working on her laptop.

"Guess what May! Phil forgot dinner so he took me to McDonalds and then he punched this guy there so hard he fell asleep and then we had to grab our food and run away. And I got this in my Happy meal!" Skye held up the small race car up proudly.

"Hmm, my phone's ringing, gotta go," Phil fled the room.

"Coulson!"

But May couldn't be mad for very long, not with the way Skye's sparkling laugh filled the air.

* * *

><p>"Is Phil going to be bald someday?"<p>

The question had come randomly. Skye was curled up next to May on the couch, drawing, Elsa tucked under her arm.

May couldn't help it. She laughed at the absurd question and the image that followed in her mind.

Looking over at Skye, she realized the five year old was studying her curiously.

"You have a pretty laugh and smile."

"Thank you." May's face was already back to its even expression.

"Why don't you smile more?" Skye reached up to play with a strand of May's hair.

May was silent, frozen, caught completely off guard by the innocent question.

"It's hard to smile sometimes," Skye sighed.

"It is. And some people are better at smiling than others." May got off the couch and knelt in front of Skye, making strong eye contact with her. "Some people are full of joy and they make other people happy. You're one of those people. You help people like me see the beauty in the world."

"I want to be strong, like you," Skye said softly. "I don't want to be scared of anything."

"I'm not invincible, Skye. I am scared of things. And I don't want you to be like me," May told her. "I want you to be just who you are."  
>Skye hugged May tight and they stayed silent for a moment.<p>

"Elsa too?" Skye finally broke the silence with a grin.

"Elsa too," May smiled.

linelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelineline

* * *

><p>The word that came to Coulson's mind when he watched Skye play with her toys was <em>resilient<em>.

He could not imagine what Skye had gone through. She was so little, so seemingly fragile and yet, here she was smiling and talking to her dolls.

There was a certain strength in the tiny girl that he could not even begin to understand.

And God, she was so beautiful. He knew she would later on be a heart breaker… Those huge brown eyes…

She was smart, too. Their miniature math and reading lessons had shown him that. He wasn't exactly sure where she was supposed to be at but he was pretty sure she was ahead.

"Phil?"

He looked up to see May standing in the doorway.

"Can I talk to you?" Her dark eyes darted to Skye then back to his face.

"Sure." Phil quickly got up and they moved to the kitchen. "What's up?"

"Message from Fury. They've had a hit on Centipede. They've found another lab."

"And?" Coulson quickly became serious.

"They only managed to capture two lower down assistants. But they were able to get in before they could evacuate all the information and chemicals. They found several vials of Skye's blood. There were traces of an unknown drug in some of the vials. It seems they are still experimenting with her blood and DNA." May's face was emotionless but Coulson knew her well enough to be able to tell from her posture that she was worried.

"They think they've found another lab and Fury wants us to be there."

"What about Skye?" Coulson frowned, glancing over at the room where she was playing with her dolls.

"He suggested we get a babysitter."

* * *

><p>"Agent Cambres?"<br>"No."

"Agent Hanson?"

"Absolutely not."

"Agent Tiaz?"

"Nope. Definitely not."

May looked up from the laptop.

"We need someone," she stated.

"Well none of those agents are fit for watching Skye," Coulson said stubbornly.

May sighed and looked back at the laptop.

"How about Garret?"

Coulson looked up.

"Is he available?"

"I'll contact him."

"Is she really ready for this?" Coulson's brow furrowed.

"I don't think we have a choice. We have to be in Colorado by noon." May's voice held a hind of frustration. "Phil. This has to be done."

Coulson met her gaze.

"You're worried too," he realized.

"There's nothing we can do. We have our orders," May said harshly and stood up and left.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Leave a review and I will be happy! :)<br>****Seriously though, what do you think?**_


	7. Apple Slices

_**Hey peeps! Sorry this is so freaking late! Life in college= crazy**_

_**But here's a nice long chapter for you all :)  
>And we are 4 followers away from the oneshot raffle! yay! :)<strong>_

_**I would love any thoughts! Please leave a review! It only has to be a smiley face or just a "sup" to make me happy. Because I love hearing from you all!**_

_**Disclaimer: Still don't own stuff**_

_**Enjoy!**_

* * *

><p>"No," Skye whimpered, clinging to Phil's leg. "No no no!" she sobbed, holding tight.<p>

Coulson stared down at the tiny girl, watched the tears stream down her face.

Today was their eighth day together, and she'd made so much progress already. She was starting to smile all the time, and last night she had only had two nightmares instead of the usual three or four.

"Wow, she's attached," Garret commented, shifting his weight uneasily. "Don't worry, Phil. Kids love me. She'll be okay. But wow, you all seem to have bonded fast."

May was studying Garret carefully but Coulson was focused on Skye and Skye only.

A little while ago, she didn't know him, wouldn't even talk to him.

Now she was holding on to his leg crying because he was leaving for a night.

How did all this happen so fast?

Was it even possible?

Why did this five year old even want him there? She barely knew him.

But he cared.

And she knew he cared.

He might be the first one in a very long time to actually care about the little girl now clinging to his leg.

So maybe it did make sense she was sobbing.

Skye had been through so much. This probably felt like her world was being yanked out from underneath her once again.

Unsure what to do, Phil was a bit surprised when it was May who made the first move.

"Skye, listen to me."

One of May's usually battle ready hands was rubbing the little girl's back gently.

"May, don't leave!" Skye cried, transferring to May's arms.

"Skye. Listen to me." May's voice was stern and she stared Skye intensely in the eyes, dark brown burning into chocolate brown. "We are coming back. I promise. I need you to be strong for Phil and I when we're gone. Can you do that for me?"

"I don't want you to go," Skye cried, lip quivering.

"And we don't want to go. But sometimes we have to do things we don't want to. So I need you to be strong and good. Garret will take care of you."

May swiftly kissed Skye on the top of the head, grabbed her suitcase and walked stiffly out of the house.

Phil gave Skye a tight hug then carefully set her down, steeled himself, and followed May out the door, trying to ignore the quiet sounds of crying.

* * *

><p>Skye eventually stopped crying, her sobs turning to pitiful hiccups.<p>

She hugged her Elsa doll close and sat silently at the table, watching the man Phil and May had told her would take care of her.

She wanted Phil and May.

But May wanted her to be strong and good.

Skye would do that for May.

She was done crying. Because she knew that crying didn't do anything.

She remembered crying in that one horrible place. She had cried so much. But nobody had cared until there was the sound of loud bangs and a lady suddenly came running in and took her away from that terrible place and brought her to Phil and May.

Phil hugged her when she cried and May rubbed her back and whispered soothing words she didn't think Skye could actually hear.

But they weren't here.

Garret was.

Skye hugged Elsa even closer.

"Who's your friend, Skye?" Garret asked kindly, gesturing to Elsa.

Skye was silent, her huge eyes staring at him.

"Hmm. Maybe if I guess her name… is it Polly?"  
>Skye almost corrected him but stopped herself. Instead she stared down at the ground, examining his shoes. They were worn leather cowboy boots.<p>

Something triggered in Skye's mind, but she didn't know what, it was buried in a haze. But it filled her with incredible unease and solidified her resolve not to engage the man at all. She wasn't going to talk to this man. She didn't know why, but she did not like him.

"How about I get us something to eat, huh? That'll get your mouth moving at least," Garret smiled but Skye's blank expression did not change.

Garret sighed and went into the kitchen.

Skye watched him go with little interest.

A sudden fear entered her mind.

_What if May and Phil never came back?_

Before being taken to the horrible place, Skye had lived with four families that she remembered.

Foster homes weren't permanent.

Tears filled Skye's eyes.

And then Garret came back and set a white plate with three apple slices lined up on it in front of her.

The images flashed back. _She was back in the white room, curled up on the bed, trying to hide from everything. _

_"__It isn't eating," someone said. "It refuses everything we give it. We could keep it hooked on an IV but that's a pain and we're still doing physical tests."_

_"__Don't worry about the IV. I'll make it eat."_

_The door creaked open. _

_"__Mary, come eat." The woman's voice was stern. _

_Skye curled up tighter on the bed._

_"__Listen to me!"_

_Skye found herself being yanked out of the bed. The woman in the white coat was carrying a white plate with three apple slices lined up on it. She pushed Skye onto a chair and placed the apples in front of her._

_Skye shook her head violently, turning to hide her face.  
>She didn't want to eat, she just wanted to be away from this place. She didn't know what was happening, and she was so scared, and nobody cared that she was terrified and alone…<em>

_A sudden jolt of pain coursed through her system. After a moment it faded and Skye, tears leaking from her eyes, looked up to see the lady pointing a small metal tube at her._

_"__Didn't like that, did you?" she sneered. "Well unless you want another shock, eat the food we give you."_

_Skye was stubborn. She didn't like listening to directions. _

_So she slowly shook her head._

_The next jolt of pain was longer._

_"__Eat." The lady ordered once Skye's eyes blinked back into focus.  
>This time, hand shaking so much she could barely pick up the apple slice, she did as she was told.<em>

_She was alone, all alone…_

She slowly became aware of someone repeating her name over and over.

Garret.

He felt her touch her back and she sprung away as though she had been bitten, heart pounding frantically.

She was scared.

She was alone.

Garret tried to walk towards her but she backed away further. Elsa was laying on the floor next to her chair and she ran and got the doll. Then she went back for Anna for good measure.

She needed them both right now.

"Skye, please, calm down, I need you to take deep breaths, it's going to be okay. You're okay…" Garret was still trying to approach her, but she turned and ran, scared of him, clutching Anna and Elsa close, avoiding looking at him or those awful mysteriously familiar shoes.

She ran to Coulson's room and climbed into his large bed.

The tears streamed from her eyes as she curled up in the bed.

She wanted Phil and May.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

* * *

><p>"They knew we were coming." May lowered her gun and looked at the empty lab.<p>

The makeshift laboratory housed in the large warehouse was empty. All that remained were the white walls and a couple machines and holding cells. Agents were already scanning the place down, but it was doubtful they would find anything of interest.

Centipede had known they were coming.

"Damn it." Coulson holstered his gun. "How could they have known?"

"Maybe hacked our systems?" Agent Graham reluctantly holstered her gun as well. She tossed her blonde ponytail over her shoulder. "Or…"

She didn't say it but they were all thinking it.

_SHIELD had a leak. _

"Was this a similar place to where you found Skye?" Coulson asked.

He and May had not uttered a word about the girl. To be honest, he was trying not to think about her.

Because being away from her, back out on the field; it felt like a different world. And he wasn't sure how to reconcile those worlds with each other.

But he couldn't keep it in any longer.

"Skye?" Agent Graham's eyebrows rose. They walked through the lab, looking into the empty rooms.

"She changed her name." May finally holstered her gun.

"Did she?" Graham seemed slightly amused. "And yes, we did. She was in a room similar to this one. Unharmed except mild laceration wounds around the wrists."

Coulson felt an unexpected stab in his chest at those words. He pushed away images that followed, but could not stop himself from thinking about the drawing Skye had made, of a girl on a table, held down by bands…

May's jaw clenched slightly, the only sign of emotion Coulson could detect from her.

"Say, I don't suppose you've noticed anything strange about her? Do you think she's human? We heard she was an 0-8-4…"

Something about the way the conversation was turning made Coulson strangely uneasy and even angry.

He just turned and left the room, pausing only to tell her

"That information is classified."

May was right on his heels.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

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><p>"Should we talk about this?" May stared at the road in front of them.<p>

"About what?" Coulson glanced at her. "The fact that there may very well be a mole in SHIELD? Or about the lab? Or…"  
>"Skye." May stated.<p>

"Oh."

They were silent for a moment.

"What about her?"  
>"We can keep on pretending this is just some mission or we can both admit that perhaps this has become something more," May's voice was even.<p>

"So we care about her. What does it matter?" Coulson said stubbornly.

"It matters because we eventually be reassigned and will have to leave her. We have to do what's best for Skye. Maybe preparing her for us leaving…"

"Is that really what's going to be best for her?" Coulson's voice rose. "The girl has had no stability in her life whatsoever! I checked her record. She's been in _seven_ foster homes! God damn it, the girl is only five years old!"

"This is what I'm talking about. You're getting emotionally attached; looking up facts from her past, trying to help her…"

"Don't give me any of that shit, about _me_ getting attached, May. I've seen the way you look at her. I've seen you calm her down, whispering in her ear when she's crying. I know you destroyed the treadmill after we found out Skye had been tested on one. It's too late. We're both emotionally attached."

May was silent.

"What do we do?" she finally said, voice uncharacteristically uncertain.

Coulson shook his head.  
>"I don't know. Keep doing what we're doing and tackle the future when it comes?"<br>May didn't look pleased with the plan.

But neither could think of anything else.

There was the unspoken knowledge of what they _should_ do, what they were trained and expected to do; emotionally remove themselves from the situation.

But neither voiced the option. Because to be honest, they no longer really considered that a possibility.

* * *

><p>"I don't get what happened, Phil, I swear, kids usually love me. The little bastards are usually crawling all over me."<p>

Phil almost laughed at the flustered face of Garret when he told her Skye had not said a word the entire time.

"You should have seen our first couple days with her." He paused to pick up a couple toys.

Really he just wanted Garret to get on with it so he could go see Skye. But someone had to debrief the man on the day and Garret was his friend. So May had gone upstairs to find Skye.

"Aw man, she totally melted down when I got her a snack. She was sobbing and shaking…"

"What did you give her?" Phil's head shot up and he stared at Garret.

"Just some apple slices…"  
>"Shit, Garret, didn't I write down not to give her those?!" Coulson was suddenly angry.<p>

"I'm sorry, I thought you were joking, I mean, apple slices? Really?"

"What happened?" Coulson couldn't help the clipped nature of his voice. Garret seemed confused with his sudden anger.

"She shut down, I tried to calm her down, but she freaked out when I touched her. She grabbed her dolls and put herself into your room. I kept an eye on her but she obviously doesn't want anything to do with me. Other than that, things have been quiet. You have this place well rigged. It's secure as any safe house out there."

"She's here for a reason," Coulson tried to calm his irrational irritation with his friend. But suddenly all he wanted to do was find Skye and tell her she was okay and not to be scared…

"So, what went down at the lab?"

Coulson quickly relayed what had happened.

"Well shit." Garret looked just as troubled as Coulson felt. "Alright then, I'll leave you two to your job. Let me know if you can take a look at those encryptions I sent you the other day."

"Of course."

Garret left with one last easy smile. Coulson closed the door behind him with a relief that made him feel guilty.

"Is she okay?" he called up the stairs.

"We'll be down in a minute!" May called back.

Coulson sat down on the couch, absentmindedly looking through Skye's crayon drawings again.

He found a drawing of a woman with black hair dressed in black and apparently chopping a board in half. He grinned at the messy scrawl at the bottom of the page that spelled out _MAY._

And then another drawing caught his eye.

He almost missed it, the paper peeking out from under another drawing.

His heart started pounding furiously as he slowly picked the paper up.

There in bold blood red crayon, was a drawing of a skull with tentacles.

The symbol of Hydra.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Dun dun dunnnnnnnnn<strong>_

_**So Skye is safe... for now... *evil laugh***_

**_Let me know what ya'll think! :)_**


	8. Fires Lit

_**Hello Friends!**_

_**Sorry for the long wait. Life is freaking crazy. Homework, church, college ministry, helping friends through anxiety, managing my own anxiety, a friend in the hospital for overdose...**_

_**Yeah. well. Enough about me. **_

_**Sorry this chapter is so late! **_

_**Also. Using a random number generator, I am excited to announce that whitetiger1249 is the winner of the oneshot drawing!**_

_**Yay!**_

_**Alright, without further ado, here is Chapter 8! **_

_**Thanks again for being so awesome and supportive! You are amazing readers, and I hope you enjoy this chapter :)**_

_**Disclaimer: don't own stuff**_

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><p><em>He almost missed it, the paper peeking out from under another drawing. <em>

_His heart started pounding furiously as he slowly picked the paper up._

_There in bold blood red crayon, was a drawing of a skull with tentacles._

_The symbol of Hydra._

* * *

><p>"Phil!" Skye called, snuggled happily in May's arms.<p>

Coulson dropped the paper, quickly hiding it under the couch.

"Skye! I missed you!" he reached out to hug her and she jumped from May's arms to his.

"I missed you too. I was scared you would never come back."

Her tiny frame shuddered in his arms.

"You didn't want to play with Garret?" Coulson smoothed her hair.

Skye shook her head and buried her face in his shoulder.

"Should we ask about the apples?" May whispered Coulson. He shook his head, somehow sensing how much emotional turmoil the little girl had been through.

"Not yet. Skye, honey, where's Elsa? Did you leave her upstairs?"

"Oh! I did!" Skye realized.

"Hmm, maybe you should go get her." Phil put Skye down.

"Okay!" Skye started running towards the stairs, but suddenly Phil grabbed her and pulled her into a hug. He kissed the top of her head and began tickling her.

She shrieked with laughter.

It was a sound both agents were happy to hear.

"I guess she likes being tickled." May was actually smiling as she watched Skye bound up the stairs.

"I guess so," Phil was beaming.

Suddenly his smile faded.

"May, I found this."  
>He pulled out the drawing of the Hydra symbol.<p>

"Shit," May whispered, taking the paper. "How could she know this?"  
>"She must have seen it in the lab."<p>

"Shit."

"We have to ask her to know for sure."

"How could Hydra be involved? We took them down!"

"We have to ask her. Maybe this is a false alarm."  
>They turned to Skye who was running back to them holding Elsa and Anna.<p>

"Elsa _and_ Anna? It must have been a rough day," Phil tried to keep his voice light.

"Well, Anna missed you and she was scared so I kept her with me too."

"Well, that's good of you and I'm sorry Anna was scared."

"She's okay now." Skye cradled her dolls close.

"Skye, we need to ask you something really important." May sat Skye down on the couch.

"Can you tell me why you drew this? And what it is?" Coulson held up the drawing.

Skye stopped smiling.

"Skye? It's okay, you're safe now. But we need you to tell us about this."

"It's… it's from the horrible place." Skye was sinking back into the couch.

May pulled Skye onto her lap, wrapping her arms around her.

"The lady, it was on her silver machine."

"Her laptop?"

Skye nodded, leaning her head against May's shoulder.

"She wore a white coat and she was mean."

They had gotten the information they needed, but Coulson wasn't ready for the conversation to be over. Skye was actually sitting in front of them, talking about what happened. Maybe this would help. People always said it helped to talk about things.

"Why do you say she was mean?" May asked the question he was about to.

"She never smiled, and she pointed this thing at me when I wouldn't eat the apples and it hurt and was scary. And she would make me lie on a table and they put these things around my hands so I couldn't get up and she made them poke me with needles…" At this point the tears were streaming down her face and she was shaking in May's arms. "And I had to do different things, and nobody would talk to me and I was so scared. Nobody was nice there," Skye whimpered, unaware of the anguish on the two agents watching her were experiencing as they watched the little girl try to put into words what had happened to her.

"You're here with us now," May promised, gently rocking the tiny girl and smoothing her hair.

Coulson watched the stern agent comfort the five year old, feeling as though he was intruding in a private moment. He could barely believe the tenderness he was beginning to see in May. It seemed to be reserved for Skye and Skye only.

They were definitely in way over their heads.

And now to add to the mess, Hydra was involved.

* * *

><p>"How the hell could this happen!" Fury roared.<p>

It was a bizarre scene, the Director waving a messy five year old's crayon drawing in the air with a murderous expression on his face.

Nobody was laughing. In fact, everywhere only shocked and horrified looks were found.

Fury had called an emergency meeting for the top operatives of SHEILD.

"We now also know that Hydra is involved with Centipede and the girl is somehow connected. To both organizations now. Where is she now?" Fury turned to Coulson.

"Same location. It has proved to be secure."

"Good. Now can someone tell me why the hell we haven't pinned down Centipede and cut off its legs?"

"They've been one step ahead of us, sir. As soon as we pinpoint a location and move in, they move out."

The room was absolutely silent at that statement.

"We... We believe that Centipede is working to create a genetic alteration that will turn a human into a super soldier, enhanced reflexes, strength, everything. We were able to extract some of the serum found in the vial's of the girl's blood found at the second lab."  
>"Hydra might be funding them to create an army."<p>

"The girl was needed because they have so far had no success in getting the serum to fuse with human DNA. The results of the in depth scans recently came back from the lab where the girl was held. Five remains of bodies were found in the dirt under the compound. What was left of their burnt cells was wildly mutated."

"And the girl?"

"Her 0-8-4 status means her identity is unknown. Somehow they got her location from our database."  
>"That information is <em>very<em> secure," Fury growled.

"Why didn't they inject the girl with the serum right away?" someone else asked. "Why all the tests first?"

"They probably were seeking to pinpoint her species. Besides, she holds a high value. They would not throw away her life so easily."

"I suggest we bring the girl in ourselves and study her."

"Absolutely not," Coulson's blue eyes sparked with anger.

He had been listening mostly in silence, increasingly disturbed by the way Skye was being referred to as a subject and species and…

"Coulson? Can you give me a good reason for that statement?" Fury raised his eyebrows.

"I can personally testify that _Skye_, yes, the girl has a name, was severely traumatized by her stay in the lab. To bring her back into a similar situation would be the same as torturing her. And let me remind you, whatever species or strange blood she has, Skye is a five year old little girl. For God's sakes, think of your daughters if you have one, or your nieces or your sisters. I hope SHEILD is still an organization that will protect the basic human rights of a little girl." Coulson's voice held a dangerous edge.

"Coulson, sometimes the needs of many…" Agent Graham's voice was quiet.

"When we make those choices, the person sacrificing does so willingly. Are you suggesting we subject a small girl to torture against her will?!"

"It isn't torture…"  
>"Trust me, to her it will be!"<p>

"Then that's her problem. We aren't going to hurt her…"

"Whether or not you mean to, it will hurt her. And I will not stand for that!" Coulson shouted.

"Enough!" Fury roared. "The girl is not vital to catching Centipede and Hydra at this point. There is no need to involve her at the moment. We will focus our energy on the task at hand! And I will not have my agents fight at this crucial moment. I want answers on how information was leaked and where Centipede and Hydra are now so we can take them down. Am I understood?!"

There was murmured assent and the room quickly cleared.

"Phil? A word?" Fury stopped Coulson as he began to exit.

"Sir?" Coulson turned to face his superior.

"You seem to feel strongly about matters regarding the girl."

"If we begin using people for our purposes, we are no better than those we seek to destroy," Coulson stated.

"I agree. But matters never are quite so black and white."  
>"There are some areas where we cannot blur lines, sir."<p>

"Coulson, I gave you and May this job because I know you both are capable of protecting this girl. Also because I know you are capable of compassion, and that is what children respond the most to. This girl may one day be crucial. Having an agent she trusts could be very useful."  
>"You are using me to control Skye," Coulson translated.<p>

"The world is not that black and white."  
>"I'm not saying it is, but I stand beside my previous statement that some lines cannot be blurred."<p>

"All I am saying is I need you to be ready to do your job, whatever that entails." Fury was already backing his briefcase, conversation clearly over.

"My job entails protecting Skye and that is what I will do," Coulson's blue eyes sparked slightly.

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><p><strong><em>Hit that review button and let me know what you think :)<em>**


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